Carmanah cuts

One of Victoria’s largest technology companies, Carmanah Technologies Corp has announced cuts to its workforce. They will also be closingtheir manufacturing plant in Saanich. See this article for more information.

Items of note

I want to draw your attention to a couple of items you may find interesting.

For those of you looking to register for Camosun College courses that start in September we have been informed that you can begin registering on July 7th. Contact Camosun for more information.
The next VIATeC VIAfest is scheduled for July 31st. See their [...]

Resource:Immigrants and the World of Work

On the Ministry of Economic Development’s web site you will find a helpful document entitled Immigrants and the World of Work. The document, which is available in seven different languages looks at some of the challenges that immigrants face as they seek to start or continue a career in BC. There is clearly-written content that covers such issues as [...]

The power of language

I want to draw your attention to an excellent post from the Water Cooler Wisdom blog that looks at the relation between literacy and earning potential. Also provided are a couple of concrete tips on how to improve our English language skills.

Tough Interview Questions

Not all interview questions are created equal. This blog post looks at some questions that can be challenging to answer. I’ve excerpted a few below but check out the post for more examples.
 
In what ways do you support a company’s vision and values and in what ways do you sabotage it? (Engineer – Manufacturing)
In general, would [...]

In search of a shortage

Print media is full of articles that claim there is a labour shortage in Canada. It is reported so often and is so rarely challenged that this bit of conventional wisdom has taken hold to the degree that it is widely assumed that there are not enough workers in Canada to fill all of the available [...]

Stepping stones

Many of our clients who have professional designations in engineering, information technology, construction, electronics and other fields will want to take note of a recent article from the Times-Colonist. A common tactic for newcomers to Canada to take is to seek employment in their field at a level with less responsibility. This allows individuals to establish [...]

Seminar for Internationally Trained Engineers

The Society for Internationally Trained Engineers is hosting a seminar on June 14th 2008. Note that this event is in Vancouver. See their website for details.

“Crisis” in the tourism sector

The tourism industry has been steadily growing in BC.  Employment projections for this sector have been optimistic thanks in part to momentum built up from the 2010 Winter Olympics. Storm clouds are now on the horizon however and some experts are concerned about the future of this industry.
Tourism growth has been fueled in recent years by a low [...]

Greater Victoria: lowest unemployment rate in Canada

The latest employment numbers from StatsCanada shows that jobs are continuing to be created at an impressive rate in the Victoria region. Over the last 12 months over 13,000 jobs have been added to the economy including 1,800 for last month. Some sectors were creating more employment growth than others.
Most of the new employment was [...]